Georgia Southern University Expert Offers Tips on Going Green in 2009

December 31, 2008

“Going green” in the New Year doesn’t have to take a lot of time or a lot of money. Dr. Lissa Leege, who heads up Georgia Southern University’s sustainability programs, offers five easy ways to help save the environment and save money.

1. As each incandescent bulb burns out in your house or office, replace it with a compact fluorescent bulb. CFLs use one-fifth the energy of incandescents and last 10 times longer, allowing you to save 670 pounds of carbon dioxide and $55 over the life of a single 60-watt bulb equivalent.
2. Replace old shower heads in your home with new, lower-flow shower heads. By law, all shower heads are now required to release no more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute  a significant savings over the older five-gallons-per-minute models.
3. Choose water from the tap over bottled water. Eight of 10 plastic water bottles end up in crowded landfills, and the oil required to make a year’s supply of new bottles in the U.S. is enough to fuel 100,000 cars a year.
4.  Bring your own bags to the grocery store. They are much sturdier than the film plastic bags and they’ll never end up as litter in a river!
5. Give someone a nice travel mug to carry to Starbucks. That will save 10 cents a cup, but better yet it will save landfill space and trees by not trashing 365 cups a year.